Volume II Part 3 (1/2)
”Well,” he said, ”tell him who I am, you! Tell him that my name is Henri Parent, that I ae Parent, because you areon my money, on the allowance of ten thousand francs which I have made you, since I drove you out of my house Will you tell him also why I drove you out? Because I surprised you with this beggar, this wretch, your lover! Tell him what I was, an honorable man, whom you married for my money, and whom you deceived from the very first day Tell him who you are, and who I ae, and the wo voice: ”Paul, Paul, stop him; make him be quiet; do not let hiot up, and he said in a quite low voice: ”Hold your tongue! Hold your tongue! Do understand what you are doing!” But Parent continued furiously: ”I quite knohat I a that I will know, so that has tore, as leaning against a tree in consternation, he said: ”Listen to h to have deceived me, but she also wanted to drive me to despair
You werethat I was not your father, but that he was your father! Was she lying? I do not know, and I have been asking myself the question for the last twenty years”
He went close up to her, tragic and terrible, and pulling away her hands hich she had covered her face, he continued: ”Well, I call upon you now to tellman; he or I, your husband or your lover Come! Come! tell us” Li in his fury, he said: ”Ah! you are brave now! You are braver than you were that day when you ran downstairs because I was going to half murder you Very well! If she will not reply, tell ht to knoell as she Tellfellow's father? Coain: ”If you will not tell me, at any rate tell your son He is a ht to knoho is his father I do not know, and I never did know, never, never! I cannot tell you, rew shrill and he worked his arms about as if he had an epileptic attack ”Come!
Give me an answer She does not know I will make a bet that she does not knowNoshe does not know, by Jove! She used to go to bed with both of us! Ha! ha! ha! nobody knowsnobody How can any one know such things? You will not know, either, my boy, you will not know any more than I do never Look here Ask her
you will find that she does not know I do not know either You can chooseyes, you can choosehi It is all over If she makes up herat the _Hotel des Continents_ I should be glad to know Good evening I hope you will enjoy yourselves veryto himself under the tall trees, into the empty, cool air, which was full of the smell of the sap
He did not turn round to look at thee, under a storm of passion, with that one fixed idea in his mind, and presently he found hiot in During the journey, his anger calained his senses and returned to Paris, astonished at his own boldness, and feeling as aching and knocked up, as if he had broken some bones, but nevertheless he went to have a _bock_ at his brewery
When she saw him come in, Mademoiselle Zoe was surprised and said: ”What! back already? are you tired?” ”I aoing out But I have done with it I shall not go into the country again I had better have stopped here For the future, I shall not stir out again”
But she could not persuade hih she wanted very much to hear all about it, and for the first tiht, and had to be carried honolles and was a clerk in the Public Education Office, he took the o, when he went to the center of Paris, sitting opposite a girl hom he fell in love
She went to the shop where she was employed, at the same time every day
She was a little brunette, one of those dark girls whose eyes are so dark that they look like spots, and whose co at the corner of the saenerally had to run to catch the heavy vehicle, and sprang upon the steps before the horses had quite stopped Then she got inside, rather out of breath, and sitting down, she looked round her
The first time that he saw her, Francois Tessier felt that her face pleased him extres to claspher That girl answered to his inward desires, to his secret hopes, to that sort of ideal of love which one cherishes in the depths of the heart, without knowing it
He looked at her intently, in spite of hirew embarrassed at his looks and blushed He saw it and tried to turn away his eyes; but he involuntarily fixed theh he tried to look in another direction, and in a few days they knew each other without having spoken He gave up his place to her when the oh he was very sorry to do it By this tireet hih she always dropped her eyes under his looks, which she felt were too ardent, yet she did not appear offended at being looked at in such aA kind of rapid intimacy had become established between them, a daily intimacy of half an hour, and that was certainly one of the ht of her all the rest of the ti office hours, for he was haunted and bewitched by that floating and yet tenacious recollection which the ie of a beloved woman leaves in us, and it seemed to him that the entire possession of that little person would behappiness to hi now she shook hands with hi of that touch, and the recollection of the gentle pressure of her little fingers, until the next day, and he almost fancied that he preserved the imprint of it, on his skin, and he anxiously waited for this short omnibus ride, all the rest of the ti days However, there was no doubt that she loved hio and lunch with him at Maisons-Laffitte the next day
II
She was at the railway station first, which surprised hi, I want to speak to you We have twenty minutes, and that is more than I shall take for what I have to say”
She tre onto his arm, and she looked dohile her cheeks were pale, but she continued: ”I do not want to be deceived in you, and I shall not go there with you, unless you prothat is at all improper ”
She had suddenly become as red as a poppy, and said no more He did not knohat to reply, for he was happy and disappointed at the same time
At the bottom of his heart, he perhaps preferred that it should be so, and yetyet during the night he had indulged in anticipations that sent the hot blood flowing through his veins He should love her less, certainly, if he knew that her conduct was light, but then it would be so char, so delicious for him! And he made all a man's usual selfish calculations in love affairs
As he did not say anything, she began to speak again in an agitated voice, and with tears in her eyes ”If you do not proether, I shall return home” And so he squeezed her arm tenderly and replied: ”I promise, you shall only do what you like” She appeared relieved in mind, and asked with a smile: ”Do you really mean it?” And he looked into her eyes and replied: ”I swear it” ”Now youthe journey they could hardly speak, as the carriage was full, and when they got to Maison-Laffitte they went towards the Seine The sun, which shone full onto the river, onto the leaves and onto the turf seehtness, and they went, hand in hand, along the bank, looking at the shoals of little fish swi over with happiness, as if they were raised frohtness of heart
At last she said: ”How foolish you must think me!”
”Why?” he asked ”To come out like this, all alone with you?” ”Certainly not; it is quite natural” ”No, no; it is not natural for me--because I do not wish to coirls fall But if you only kneretched it is, every day the sa, every day in the month, and every month in the year I live quite alone with Mareat deal of trouble, she is not very cheerful I do the best I can, and try to laugh in spite of everything, but I do not always succeed But all the sah you, at any rate, will not be sorry”